I love Halloween. It’s a chance to be someone (or some thing) other than yourself. My costumes have varied from sorceress to Badass Black Woman (this year, I’m leaning towards Michonne from “The Walking Dead”). The drawback of Halloween is that folks try to use the day as an excuse to get out-of-pocket(killing black cats and other wacky stuff). But what really annoys me, is that SOME white folks see the holiday as a chance to “act” as another race, usually in degrading ways:

I’ve been looking for spots me and my friends can hit up this upcoming Halloween weekend. I thought I found one cool place, until I scrolled through their gallery of photos from their event last year. I noticed some questionable costumes. One white guy looked like he was dressed as an Indigenous person. He had darkened up his skin, put tribal markings over his body, and had on a deadlock looking wig. Oh, hell naw. I had to cross that place off the list. If I go to an event and I see white folks have “blackened” themselves up, I really will be cutting off heads like Michonne.

I guess I just want folks to think about how these outfits insult folks of color. There are many great costume ideas out there, why white folks resort to blackface, is beyond me. But I best not see it…

I don’t have cable. So, it’s just recently that I got a chance to watch the first two seasons of The Walking Dead, on Netflix. Of course, I was immediately hooked. I love all things sci-fi, horror, and action packed. I have read the grumblings of some hardcore fans that think the show is far less superior than the comics, but what can you do. Let’s be real, even on cable television, there’s only so much they can/will show. The comic is pretty graphic. Personally, I think the show is good, not perfect, but interesting at least.

I haven’t watched the third season yet, so need to catch up, but the trailer for the upcoming season looks da bomb (yep, breaking out the 90’s slang):

My one issue with the show has been the lack of diversity of characters. It has been especially strange, as the show takes place in the ATL (Atlanta, GA). Only one black person (T-Dog) in the initial group of survivors? Umm, okay. With this trailer, it’s nice to see more black folks in the mix, especially black women. It looks like we get a badass character in Michonne, played by Danai Gurira:

SPOILER ALERT!!! SPOILER ALERT!! SPOILER ALERT!!

I’ve read that in the comics, Michonne is horribly sexually assaulted. I know comic fans have been upset, the show has not stayed true to the book, but I wouldn’t mind if this was left out. Heck, I wish it wasn’t in the comic to begin with. Why are black women characters always being depicted as downtrodden/beaten/raped. It’s like they can only have a complex black woman character, if she’s been degraded in some type of way. Eh…but other than that, looking forward to seeing more of this new actress 🙂